Companies Failed to Surrender Registration Certificates

Soon after the Supreme Court ordered the interim ban on endosulfan on May 13, the agriculture ministry issued letters to the different departments, the following day, for the compliance of the nation wide ban.

Licensing Officers and Insecticides Inspectors were issued orders to implement the ban. Letters were sent to the Central Insecticides Board and Registration Committee (CIBRC) and the directorate of plant protection among other departments to ensure that there is an immediate ban on manufacture, sale and use of the pesticides.

As it turns out, the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, in a letter dated May 18, had directed all pesticide manufacturers association to direct all registrants of endosulfan to surrender their certificates of registration to the Central Insecticides Board and Registration Committee without any delay.

But till June 3, none of the registrants of endosulfan had surrendered their certificate of registration to the CIBRC. Following no response from the registrants, the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation has stated that the registration is now deemed to be withdrawn with effect of the interim order issued by the Supreme Court.

So now not only is the production, use and sale of endosulfan illegal as per the Supreme Court order, but it also now becomes illegal on the subsequent CIBRC's administrative decision for compliance with the court orders of withdrawing registrations.

Letters were sent to the pesticide manufacturers association like Crop Care Federation of India, Pesticides Manufacturers and Formulation Association of India, Confederation of All India Small and Medium Pesticides Association and Agrochemicals Manufacturers Association of India. However, the implementation of the ban still remains lose.

While the letters exchanged within the agriculture departments suggest that companies were taking their time to submit their registration certificates, endosulfan manufacturers like Excel Crop Care, soon after the May 13 order of the Supreme Court, went to the press saying that they had suspended the production and sale of the pesticide all over India.